Conversation: A Word Signifying Nothing

The favorite word of journalists and politicians these days is the word conversation. Now, when I was a kid in the 50s, conversation typically meant a pleasant exchange between people in which there was nothing discussed that would lead to acrimony or anger. So, politics, religion, and sex were verboten in those days if you were having a conversation with someone. Conversations were a nice way to get to know people on a safe, social level. They weren't debates or lectures or arguments.
Fast forward to 2012. Now, conversations take on a whole new meaning in the media and political universes. It has become a euphemistic term that can really mean almost anything, but more than likely in Washington, DC, and in the media centers, it means having had either an inconsequential talk or an exchange of rhetoric in which there were no deals made, no paths agreed upon, and no solutions to pressing problems discussed. The seriousness surrounding the word, however, is intended by the news anchor...(Read Full Post)